First Reef

[Stain]

Hey everyone, thought I'd post up my first reef tank. I've been lurking for a while and decided to take the plunge. 20gal long, 10gal sump, hygger mini wavemaker, sca-301 skimmer, jebao dcp-3500 return pump, 2 Kessil a160we's.

Currently has been running for a week and a half, clowns have been in for a week. Playing the waiting game now. If you have any tips/pointers, you screwed up, please let me know. Cheers and thanks for all the useful content.

 

[|Frank|]

Nice set up!!

 

[Stain]

SPS has been in for two weeks now, most are encrusting, some are sprouting vertically. I need to figure out how to take pictures of it now hahah

RR Orange passion, RR pink caddilac, wwc little red ferrari, jf aqua delight, jf flame, blueberry wine, mr. pacman, forest fire digi and a pink birdsnest.

 

[Zach B]

Welcome Congrats on the new setup!

 

[Olefreebe]

Welcome to reef2reef. Great looking setup.
Is that 20g drilled?

 

[PeterC99]

Very impressed with your First reef tank! Very professional looking!

 

[Acros]

SPS has been in for two weeks now, most are encrusting, some are sprouting vertically. I need to figure out how to take pictures of it now hahah

RR Orange passion, RR pink caddilac, wwc little red ferrari, jf aqua delight, jf flame, blueberry wine, mr. pacman, forest fire digi and a pink birdsnest.

New dry rock tank and you have success with acros? People are going to loose their ****!

Congratulations buddy!

 

[CMMorgan]

I think your plumbing is clean and overall the set up is really fabulous.
I do think you are moving too fast though. Your dropping in acros when most people would not even be considered fully cycled? You still have the uglies to get through. Expect some losses, don't be discouraged.
I would recommend getting an ATO if you haven't already. Stability and patience ... my best advice. Nothing good happens fast in reefing.
Keep up the great work though ...

 

[Stain]

New dry rock tank and you have success with acros? People are going to loose their ****!

Congratulations buddy!

Thanks, I wouldnt say success, but they are showing me all the right signs.

 

[elorablue]

SPS has been in for two weeks now, most are encrusting, some are sprouting vertically. I need to figure out how to take pictures of it now hahah

RR Orange passion, RR pink caddilac, wwc little red ferrari, jf aqua delight, jf flame, blueberry wine, mr. pacman, forest fire digi and a pink birdsnest.

Really nice setup!

So you just skipped the softies and LPS stage eh? LOL good on ya and best of luck going forward !

 

[Stain]

I think your plumbing is clean and overall the set up is really fabulous.
I do think you are moving too fast though. Your dropping in acros when most people would not even be considered fully cycled? You still have the uglies to get through. Expect some losses, don't be discouraged.
I would recommend getting an ATO if you haven't already. Stability and patience ... my best advice. Nothing good happens fast in reefing.
Keep up the great work though ...

Thank you for the suggestions, much appreciated. I've gone thru diatoms, and have some dino's currently, but they seem under control. I have some spots of coraline forming as well. I have an ato coming, i've been doing it by hand, the tank has a 1/8in glass lid, and 95% of the sump is covered, so it doesnt loose a ton to evaporation. My lights are only running 25% intensity and 30% color at peak, will slowly work up the intensity depending on what the corals tell me. My philosophy for this tank was to give the 'uglies' something to compete with other than a dark tank for months. Happy friday

 

[Stain]

Really nice setup!

So you just skipped the softies and LPS stage eh? LOL good on ya and best of luck going forward !

Thank you. Yeah I skipped them, did months of research before setting this up. In the beginning I loved some softies, and certin lps, but half way thru planning got hooked on the complexities of keeping sps, and am hooked on Acro's now.

 

[elorablue]

Thank you. Yeah I skipped them, did months of research before setting this up. In the beginning I loved some softies, and certin lps, but half way thru planning got hooked on the complexities of keeping sps, and am hooked on Acro's now.

Totally understand. My tank is only 2 1/2 months in, started with softies and a couple of LPS but a couple of weeks ago added a branching Monti and a cyphastrea and to be honest those are the 2 corals that get most of my attention even though they don't actually "do anything" LOL

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

Very nice!
That is one clean tank.

 

[Stain]

I went to bed and woke up to the sump having doubled, and my controllers moved. My systems been busy.

 

[JKenny]

Looks great! Welcome...

 

[fachatga]

Welcome! I do agree you technically are moving too fast. However I think it’s also good to do that to an extent. I did the same thing. Knew it was too fast. But there’s no better way to learn than to NEED to research things because you’ve got a coral that’s unhappy or something is going wrong. No substitute for that at all. You can read all the threads here and you’ll not truly absorb what’s being said until you’re going through it. I think I’ve learned faster by making myself deal with issues early instead of waiting months and having less issues in the beginning. It really forced me to pay attention and find and implement solutions. I never put a fish life at stake. But take careful risks. I may be in the minority with this view but I think for beginners it’s a great thing to do to make jumps before you’re ready. Also tank looks amazing.

 

[Stain]

Finally calibrated the doser and installed it. The dp-4 was a pain to calibrate to consistently dose 2ml. I dose 2ml 4 times a day, started at 5ml's a day. So much easier than setting four alarms in a day to go dose the tank lol. I also micro fragged my pink cadillac, went from one big frag to six little ones, and took most of the frags off plugs a few weeks ago. They are all encrusting on my rock work now.

I need a fiter for my camera, excuse the blue, thought this was cool. The forrest fire digi with about a month's growth.

Not too shabby for a new tank with new rock, all my acro's have noticeable growth and have encrusted a ton the last month. The bigr walt d and the rr op are having a height growth race, both have put on about a quarter inch in height, and have started to develop nice bases on the rocks. Cant wait to frag them to spread them around my tank more. Still slowly turning the lights up, im at 45% peak right now, corals are holding/coloring up very well. Full tank shot

Also just received a sixline wrasse from Candy Corals, and two astrea snails. The wrasse is quite the character, inspects the acro's all day long. The clowns wont go near it, its really funny. Its been a blast so far, makes me wish I had of done the jump a decade sooner lol. Cheers

 

[Stain]

Installing my ato tonight finally. Not going to lie, a little paranoid about it lol. I'll cross my fingers like I did when I on-lined the doser. I'll have so much more time for activities!!!

 

[Stain]

ATO works great, now to figure this out lol. My ph didnt drop much over the night, didnt expect that.